It looks like a car (with pics)

[LoBelly]

Hello All,

It's been a little while since the last set of pics so I thought it was time for a set of progress snaps.

This should be beneficial to all those other builders out there so you can see the folly of cutting corners and not spending the money you should - so be warned.

Last Sunday - was mostly spent moving furniture but the big rubber arrived so it was an opportune time to take some snaps.

Those of you with long memories will recall my earlier post on buying the first set of mags for the car, 4 wheels (15x7) for $150 advertised in the trading post - turned out to be Bathurst Globes - one of my all-time favorite wheels.
(for an essay on why a young ford fella might be smitten try http://www.aus-ford-uk.co.uk/html/details13.html )

But 7in on the back of a Cobra didn't cut it so I hunted around for someone who could supply a copy - found performance wheels in SA who dont deal direct with the public fortunately Trackside Tyres in Kilsyth deal with Performance and were happy to order the rims in for me $258 a piece for the 15x10

Here is the car mid - wheel change


I may have mentioned re-doing the brakes, my brother pulled the jag gear apart and after a good soak & scrub replaced everything (pistons/seals etc) and even had the forethought to get the flexible pipes remanufactured, get some good pads and some paint - I helped operate the vice


Another addition since my last post has been the roll-bar and harnesses.
My Brother found this local (to him) engineering shop that was happy to bend and cut and make two roll bars with perfectly fitting cross-bars out of stock that we supplied ($175) for $50 cash. Which was all going swimmingly until it turned out that my measurements were out by the traditional bees duck and an extra days effort was required.

Note also battery isolation and the emergence of a colour scheme - generally monochomatic with a splash of red (same with VDO guages)


Here is 'Old Smokey' the engine that came with the kit and has been press-ganged into service after sitting around partly disassembled for 15+ years.

This picture is for Les - note that its a RMC with a backward sloping radiator.

The standard RMC radiator (series 1) came with the kit and we just thought that that was what had to happen (before we got the manual) The brother worked like 10 men to get that to fit - I handed it to him after he crawled under the car so he could offered it up - took about 15 goes - I got a sore back but no sympathy.

Now that the plumbing is done and there is a big fan under the radiator is stays nice and cool - apologies to purists on the header tank. Next job will probably be to replace the cable ties with hose clamps for many of the cooling components


And one last photo to show the new rubber filling the guards - love that look.



LoBelly

[Beejay]

It may be low buck, but that will still be a cool Cobra!

Ben

[Aussie Mike]

Looking really good Michael. I have to say I like the Globe mags too. I always liked the look of them on GT falcons.

Cheers

[Gav]

Looks the business to me Micheal.
Big globes look tough on any car, once the metal polish hits the fronts I think anyone would be happy with them.

Looking great keep up the good work.

Gav

[stephen low]

Hey Michael looking good!

Also looks like the same issue I have at the front, you last pic sort of shows a heap of clearance in the guard wheel area same as I have - are you hoping like me that a good workout will see the front springs compress somewhat and get a better looking clearance?

I'll have to post progress like you once I've got my fuel system done. A wad of cash last night for fittings, good filters and hose - sigh I thought I'd got away from buying expensive fittings the same as you do for sailing but in cars it's just that more expensive!

Ah well at least this Sunday the smart wife has arranged for the kids to give me 2 x badges for boot/bonnet care of Don and Vicki

- gotta be better than sox and jox

See you in a week!

Cheers

[dbn04]

stephen,
how did you go with the computer/overide issues?

[Rebel1]

WOW!!....Talk about de'ja'vu.

That thing looks so like mine in a previous life before the rebuild. Different wheels and seats but very similiar in many ways.

Thanks for the radiator image Michael, but mine is a MK11 RMC and they are somewhat different up front....much less room in the MK11. Muchly appreciated tho.

Wot's this " generally monochomatic with a splash of red " thingy. On my monitor it's monochomatic with a splash of pink. Pimp pink at that. Would look at home in Lygon Street.

Mate, congrats to you and your brother...great work.

[stephen low]

Sorry Michael, hijacking your post but this is good for all to know.

Dbn04 I had my Ford contact, Tyrone, catch up with me again and he reconfirmed he can clear the computer of security and other items. This is for an AU series 2 computer ie smartlock.

He can recode the computer to whatever is needed to make the engine run best to the configuration needed, ie running with or without a/c, power steering, MAF recalibration to cover air box changes and I suspect a whole lot of other bits and pieces. He clearly knew of a few other tricks too for performance enhancement.

He's currently working on Ford 2008 configuration gear and he can tackle B series bits n bobs, though even he admitted that these get harder again!! But for those poor souls working to current ADR needs, he might be a solution
to you B series woes!?!

For those that missed my previous post where I mentioned this fellow, Tyrone's job title I believe is engine and drivetrain engineer at Ford. I'm no expert but he can seemingly talk the talk but I do know independantly that he has race prepared various cars including MX5 and clubmans.

However until I get my beast wired this is all conjecture and I did indicate to Tyrone I was about 6 months off this exercise. I did also say to Tyrone that I would point interested people his way and somebody else may be better able to determine his capabilities. So here is his contact details.

Tyrone's mobile contact is 0411 335 869. You will probably have to leave a message and he will come back to you eventually, he seems to be a very busy man.

If anyone makes contact please feedback to the forum so we know his worth!

Now back to your regular programming.

Cheers

[LoBelly]

Thankyou all for your kind words

and for that news flash Stephen.

My brother got a temporary permit today and so we did a bit of driving, even got to drive the car myself today.

During the test drives today we had an issue with the back of the car stepping left when we got off the throttle. Have redone the bearing spacers in the rear hubs to remove a little play and we'll see how that goes.

Old Smokey was a bit off on the first run and sounded/felt like it was pinging so we pulled in to grab some octane boost - one of the leads was off <doh> , after that the engine seemed pretty willing down low, but hasn't been happy to rev to hard - we keep thinking there should be more in there. But, we haven't put a timing light on it yet (can't find) - advancing the timing a bit by ear made a big difference so we'll have to look harder for a timing light.

My first drive was a blast - cruised around to begin with while getting the feel. The shifter is nice and smooth and clutch operation doesn't take much pedal so once I get the feel for the gates I expect I'll be able to move through those quickly. The car rides really nicely and feels great being out in the open. The side-pipes have only some home-made baffles that I thought up and I was worried about restricting the engine so they really only take some edge off. The cobra sits nice an flat and is very well behaved (apart from that earlier issue) The main drama I had was that my belly pushed the quick releas onto the steering wheel in one turn and it grabbed on the release and everything disengaged at once - eek.

Opened the throttle a couple of times in 2nd then up to 3rd, man - its so rapid - even with only a 289 and my tall diff. I expect those of you with your cars are going 'welcome to the club' to those of you still building - keep going your gunna love it.

Anyway - at the end of the day Old Smokey might not last - after sitting for so long the carbie took a rebuild to run properly and while doing the rear end some green liquid was spotted, so some detectiving was done and it looks like a head gasket. The expectation is that the big sit basically degraded a lot of stuff in the engine and so another is planned.

Build or buy - mild or wild - how much of what. Time to hit the spreadsheet.

LoBelly